The Sweetest Burn

  I followed Adrian inside. Brutus landed with a thump moments later, and then the gargoyle entered the church. If I’d thought the exterior was impressive, the interior put it to shame. Instead of pale gray-colored stone rising majestically into tall, pointed peaks, the inside walls were warm amber shades, and that effect was deepened by the countless candles that Zach somehow caused to blaze with light as we walked down the long aisle.

  When we reached the altar, the curved archways and magnificent stained glass windows faded into insignificance as I turned to face Adrian. His gaze was almost feral in its intentness, but a smile curved his lips as he stared down at me.

  “Do you like it?”

  “It’s more than memorable.” Even my whisper sounded loud in the huge, empty building. “It’s unforgettable.”

  “Adrian,” Zach said, suddenly sounding even more formal than his usual stuffy style. “Take Ivy’s hand.”

  He did, and the warm curl of his fingers around mine stilled my nervousness. I didn’t know what this ritual involved, but my experience with the supernatural made me brace for a lot of pain. Still, I’d go through agony with a smile to prolong this moment. For longer than I could imagine, Adrian had been told that his choices had already been made for him. That no matter what he did or what he wanted, his life would culminate in an awful, unavoidable betrayal. Yet still, he’d fought with everything he had, and now, I was about to be an integral part of his victory.

  And my victory, too. In my darkest days, I’d thought what I felt for Adrian was fate’s cruel twist on top of an already impossible destiny. After all, I wasn’t some great savior, prophecy or no prophecy. I was just a girl doing the best I could while knowing that it probably wouldn’t be enough. But right now, I didn’t have to be the last Davidian, with all of the expectations, pressures and supernatural challenges that came with that title. I could just be Ivy, and as I looked at Adrian, I didn’t see the last Judian, either. I saw the man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with, however long or short that turned out to be. I thought I’d known what happiness was, but those instances had been mere shadows and glimpses of what I felt now, with Adrian holding my hand and Zach about to tether our souls together.

  “Ivy,” Zach said. “Take Adrian’s hand.”

  I did. With our hands clasped right to right and left to left, our arms formed a loose X between us. Zach closed his eyes, held his palms up and began to speak in a language I’d only heard once before.

  Demonish sounded beautiful yet harsh, with each syllable a melody broken by roughness at the last moment. I didn’t know the official name of the language it had originated from, but that was what Zach was speaking now. Angel-speak, I’d called it the other time I’d heard it, and I’d thought that memory had exaggerated its indescribable exquisiteness. Instead, it had dulled it. Listening to it was like having every stunning visual I’d ever seen transformed into acoustics and then poured into my mind. It was hypnotic, euphoric, and when I felt wetness on my cheeks, I realized that it had brought me to tears.

  Then light began to halo Zach, until it consumed his trademark blue hoodie and jeans, leaving him clothed in brightness that rivaled the stars. That light overflowed Zach, spilling out to encompass the altar, Adrian and even myself.

  I closed my eyes against the searing brightness, and still light filled my vision. Zach’s voice changed, turning into what sounded like the roar of multitudes. The sound was piercing, painful and beauteous all at the same time. My mind and body ached from sensory overload, until I would’ve run out of an instinctive need to protect myself, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even pull my hands away from Adrian’s though it suddenly felt as if I was falling from a great height.

  I would’ve screamed, but then something ripped out of me with such force that I felt torn in two. Before I could begin to process that, a tidal wave crashed into me, flooding the parts that had been ripped away. For a few brief moments, I was no longer only Ivy. I was someone else, too.

  I grew up in a darkly glittering world where strange and beautiful demons gave me and my mother everything we wanted, especially the shadow man, Demetrius. To save this world, I learned to fight, wanting nothing more than to erase the fear in my mother’s eyes when she spoke of Archons and to see the pride in Demetrius’s when I finally fulfilled my destiny to save her, him and the rest of our people.

  Then I discover the ugliness I hadn’t been shown before in our realms. I sneak out and visit the half light, half dark world and discover it’s different from everything I’ve been told. It holds real beauty, and I’ve become a monster. I seek death by searching for the Archons I’ve long been warned about, yet when one finds me, he doesn’t kill me. Instead, he shows me the truth. Demetrius and the person I thought was my mother were one and the same. He’d killed her, then used her likeness my whole life to trick me.

  My rage consumes me. I will deny my people their victory by refusing to fulfill the fate I’d once longed for. I will never go near the last Davidian, let alone betray her.

  And then she appears...

  I fell back into myself, until all I could feel were my own aches and pains. Adrian’s thoughts, emotions and memories were no longer slamming into my consciousness with feature-film-like clarity. When I dragged my eyelids open, we were both slumped on the floor in front of the altar, our bodies twisted away from each other, yet our hands still clasped together.

  “It is done,” Zach said from above us.

  He was standing only a few feet away, and yet his voice sounded far-off. Maybe that was from the blood still roaring through my ears, or from my ragged breaths as I tried to get ahold of myself mentally and physically.

  Adrian’s eyes met mine. His face was ashen and his hair was tangled as if a windstorm had blown through here. For all I knew, it had. I certainly felt like more had happened than merely falling to the floor. If I had one, it hurt.

  “You okay?” he rasped, sitting up.

  I sat up, too, and leaned against the altar, trying to even out my gasping by taking in slow, deep breaths. “Mostly.”

  He didn’t say anything. Then he pulled his hands free and looked up at Zach. In a voice that echoed like the rumbling of thunder, Adrian said, “Why didn’t you tell me that Demetrius was my father?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  I WAS SO shocked that he knew, I found the strength to get to my feet. Adrian got up, too, and though a fine tremor ran through his body, he strode over to Zach.

  “Why?” Adrian repeated.

  “How did you find out?” I asked.

  He shot a single, sharp glance at me. “The same way you probably know all my secrets now, too.”

  He’d experienced the same accelerated, virtual reality replay of my life, as well? I suppose it made sense, since the soul tethering had gone both ways.

  “Adrian, I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

  This time, the look he gave me was pained. “I know why you didn’t tell me. I saw that, too.”

  He saw it, but did he forgive me? I wished I knew, but the ability to know his thoughts and feelings seemed to have ended with my regaining consciousness.

  Zach drew himself up to his full height, although he was still several inches shorter than Adrian’s six-six height. “If I had told you, you would have refused to do the soul-binding ritual with Ivy.”

  “Of course I would have!” Adrian burst out. “I’m half-demon. I would never knowingly taint Ivy’s soul with that!”

  “Taint? Adrian, don’t say that,” I gasped.

  His arm shot out with such violence that he snapped a brass candlestick pillar right in half. “Don’t. I can’t stand to think about what I’ve done, let alone hear you justify it.”

  He was shaking, and I didn’t know if it was from rage, regret or an urge to rip Zach limb from limb. When I came closer and saw Adrian’s
face, I realized that it was all three.

  “There is more,” Zach said, ignoring how I started to wave my hands in the universal gesture for Stop! Whatever it was, didn’t he see that Adrian couldn’t take it right now?

  “What?” Adrian asked, the single word almost spit out.

  For a moment, light glowed behind Zach’s deep brown eyes, and I felt real fear. If Zach struck out at Adrian, he would kill him, and there would be nothing I could do to stop him. The lethal, mystic weapon in my arm worked on demons, not Archons.

  Then Zach folded his arms and assumed his usual detached, cool demeanor. For once, I was relieved that humans seemed to be too beneath him for him to get worked up about.

  “I told you that one of you had been alerting Demetrius to your location,” Zach said, not blinking under Adrian’s furious stare. “You were correct in believing that it couldn’t be Costa, as Ivy was correct believing that it could not be Jasmine.”

  “Then who?” I demanded before the truth slammed into me.

  Adrian didn’t move, but for the briefest second, his features crumbled. Then they hardened until I wasn’t sure I recognized the person I’d just supernaturally bound myself to.

  “Me.” Adrian laughed, a sound that more resembled rocks being ground together than an indication of amusement. “That’s why Demetrius always knew who I was no matter what disguise you glamoured me with, right? Somehow, he can feel me.”

  Zach lifted his shoulder in acknowledgment. “As deep calls to deep, blood calls to blood.”

  Adrian spun around, striding past me. When he was halfway down the aisle, I realized he wasn’t just pacing like he normally did when he was upset. He was leaving.

  “Wait!” I shouted, energy returning to my limbs as I ran after him.

  “Your tie to Demetrius is now broken,” Zach called out.

  Adrian stopped so abruptly that I had to pivot to avoid smashing into him. “What did you say?”

  Zach didn’t move from his spot in front of the altar. At the other end of the church, Brutus chuffed, then rose from his position behind the last pew. That’s when I realized that at some time during our binding ritual, the gargoyle had run to the back of the church to hide from the light.

  “Your tie to Demetrius is now broken,” Zach repeated, speaking slowly so there could be no misunderstanding. “It broke the moment I tied your soul to Ivy’s.”

  “How?” Adrian asked, holding his arm out when I came nearer. “Don’t,” he said without looking at me.

  “Screw that.” I flared, grabbing the arm he was using to ward me off. “I knew who your real father was when I agreed to tether my soul to yours, and I did it because I didn’t care. You are who I want, and you are not him.”

  “Ivy.” He said my name as if it were painful. “I’m part of him, and because of that, I led him to you all those times. Because of me, he nearly killed you. He might be in New York right now, looking for you through me. You can’t expect me to forgive myself for that.”

  “Yes, I can,” I said, touching his face and refusing to back down when he flinched. “You didn’t know, and each time Demetrius found us, you did everything you could to protect me, even when we first met and you couldn’t stand being near me.”

  I couldn’t feel his emotions, but I didn’t need to as I saw his features twist with pain. “I always wanted to be near you,” he said in a ragged voice. “The only person I ever wanted to get away from was myself.”

  I threw my arms around him, tightening my grip when his whole body tensed. “I don’t ever want to be without you, either, and I wouldn’t care if that meant Demetrius was always hot on our heels. We’d find a way around him, just like we found a way around our fates. If we can beat destiny, beating Demetrius should be easy.”

  He laughed, although it sounded choked. “You always make me want to believe in the impossible, even when I know better.”

  “In this case, you don’t know better, but I do,” I said, pulling his head down and kissing him until his mouth lost its stiffness. “You’re mine,” I whispered against his lips. “And I’m yours, from now until hell freezes over, or until we beat it back to where it came from.”

  He stared at me, and in his eyes I saw tinges of hope. Behind that was ruthlessness and an almost animalistic determination to destroy those who’d caused us so much harm.

  That was fine. Hate was useful sometimes, and Adrian would need all of his before we were done. But he needed something else more, and I wasn’t afraid because he had that, too.

  Love. I saw that in his gaze, as well. Felt it in his hands as they touched me, in his arms as they wrapped tightly around me, then felt it seethe from his mouth as he claimed mine with a desperation that put passion to shame.

  When he finally lifted his head, my lips felt swollen and my breath came in pants. Despite that, I would have kissed him again at once if not for the very loud, very deliberate harrumph from the front of the church.

  “As I was saying,” Zach stated, his tone daring us to ignore him again, “your bond to Demetrius has now been fractured. Tethering your soul to Ivy’s introduced enough of a supernatural disruption that Demetrius will no longer be able to track you through your blood tie.”

  “Maybe we should head back to the light realm, anyway,” I murmured. “We’ve been here for hours. As you said, Demetrius could already be in the city looking for us.”

  “You can’t go back,” Zach replied, stunning me. “You also chose to tether your soul to his, so as Adrian’s bond with you fractured his tie to Demetrius, so your bond to him fractured your access to the light realms.”

  Shock and disbelief made me ask, “I can’t enter the light realms anymore? At all?”

  “Not unless I or another Archon pulls you through their gateways,” Zach replied.

  Adrian’s hand slid down my arm in a comforting way even as he sent a truly furious look at Zach. “Why did you wait until it was too late to warn her of that?”

  “Ivy, would you rather have access to the light realms or have Adrian by your side?” Zach responded, answering a question with a question.

  I closed my eyes. The light realms were more than the only demon-free places in existence plus an endless source of manna; they were also portals that could take us anywhere in the world. Having access to them had been a priceless advantage...unless that price would have cost me Adrian.

  “You already know the answer,” I said, opening my eyes.

  The stare Zach leveled at Adrian was pointed. “And that is why I did not bother to tell her beforehand. Now, my time is finished here. Return to your hotel. You will be safe there. Even if Demetrius was using your link to follow you, now that it is severed, this city is too populated for him to find you before I return. I will see you at dusk.”

  With that, Zach disappeared. “Wait!” I said, but of course, the altar remained empty. How Zach loved his disappearing acts.

  Adrian shook his head. “Typical.” Then he took my arm. “Sun’s almost up. Even if Demetrius did follow me here, he can’t stay long enough to find us. This city has millions of people, so even if he sent every minion he made to look for us, they wouldn’t find us, either. I say we go back to the hotel like Zach suggested and then leave with him tonight.”

  “All right,” I said, thinking that if Zach hadn’t promised to return, I’d have no way to get Jasmine and Costa out of the light realms. I gave the braided tattoo around my arm a wry glance. As far as it was concerned, the locks on the realm gateways had been changed.

  Voices suddenly filled the cathedral as three priests entered from a side door near the front of the church. Then they stopped short when they saw us.

  “How did you get in here?” one of them asked, almost sputtering in his indignation.

  Adrian snorted as he held open the door for Brutus and me to leave. “Believe me,
Father, that’s a long story.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  THE LIMO WAS still parked near the Cathedral, but Brutus was too big to fit inside, so Adrian sent the driver away and we walked back to the hotel. Brutus cringed at each new beam of light as the sun rose. At least the tall buildings kept most of the bright rays from reaching him, and being with us seemed to calm him a little, too. When we entered the Waldorf through the private entrance on 50th Street, the sun was fully up. Brutus hurried into the hotel, and the doorman didn’t even blink at the Archon glamour that made it appear as if we’d gone for a dawn stroll with our pet seagull.

  It made me wonder what other strange sights the doorman had seen, but I didn’t pause to ask. I was so exhausted, I was running on fumes, and yet a nervous energy filled me as we entered the elevator, which was thankfully large enough to fit two adults and a hulking gargoyle.

  Adrian had fulfilled his promise to prove that he wouldn’t betray me again. And since we were now alone—sort of—with almost a day between now and when we’d see Zach again, with a nice, big bed waiting for us...well. Granted, Adrian had to be as worn-out as I was, so if he stumbled into the bedroom and fell right asleep, I’d completely understand. I might even pass out as soon as my head hit a pillow, too. But—more tingles of anticipation went through me—what if he didn’t want to sleep?

  The doors opened onto the Towers floor and we went into the Historic Suite. Adrian threw his coat onto the nearest chair in the foyer and then led Brutus into the side bedroom. I heard drapes being drawn and Adrian speaking in Demonish, followed by chuffs from Brutus, then the sound of water running.

  I went into the master bedroom, struck anew by its loveliness. Royal blue drapes hung from the ceiling to frame the entire bed while white pillows and sheets provided a snowy contrast against the deep blue blankets. Crystal lamps adorned the nightstands as well as the end tables around the nearby love seat. A dark wood entertainment center with a flat-screen TV faced the bed, not that I wanted to watch anything right now. I also didn’t want to look at the view from the windows, even though from this high up, it was really something.